Handbook on Social Welfare Statistics, 2018

FOCUS

The Handbook on Social Welfare Statistics, 2018, was published by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, government of India, in September 2018. The first such Handbook was published in 2007, and this 2018 version is the seventh report. It is a compilation of statistical data on marginalised groups including Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), senior citizens (those over 60 years old), persons with disabilities and transgender persons.

It draws on various sources such as the National Crime Record Bureau, the Planning Commission, Census 2011, reports of the National Sample Survey Organisation and reports of various ministries.

The eight-part report covers basic demographic data on these groups, including information on crimes committed against them (Part 1); their mortality rates and nutritional status (Part 2); educational statistics (Part 3); the economic status of such groups (Part 4); their representation in the central government, central public sector enterprises and other institutions (Part 5); expenditure on, and achievements of, schemes run by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (Part 6); scholarships for SC, ST and OBC students (Part 7); and details of other government schemes (Part 8).

    FACTOIDS

  1. Census 2011 states that Uttar Pradesh has the largest SC population among all states (over 41 million of nearly 199 million people), followed by West Bengal (about 21 million of 91 million people) and Bihar (over 16 million of 104 million people).

  2. At 31.94 per cent, Punjab has the highest proportion of an SC population among all states according to Census 2011, followed by Himachal Pradesh (25.19 per cent) and West Bengal (23.51 per cent).

  3. Karnataka, as per 2017 data from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, has the highest number of castes listed as SCs at 101, followed by 95 in Odisha and 76 in Tamil Nadu.

  4. Scheduled Castes, Census 2011 notes, form more than 25 per cent of the population of 74 districts in 14 states: Punjab (18 districts), Uttar Pradesh (15), West Bengal (9), Himachal Pradesh (6), Tamil Nadu (6), Haryana (4), Karnataka (3), Madhya Pradesh (3), Bihar (2),  Jammu and Kashmir (2), Jharkhand (2), Rajasthan (2), Odisha (1) and Uttarakhand (1 district).

  5. The report cites Census 2011, to state that SCs accounted for more than 40 per cent of the total population in four districts: Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar, Muktsar and Firozpur district in Punjab; and Koch Bihar (or Cooch Behar) district in West Bengal.

  6. According to data from the National Crime Record Bureau, UP recorded the most number of crimes against SCs in 2016 (10,426 incidents), followed by Bihar (5,704 incidents), Rajasthan (5,134 incidents) and MP (4,922 incidents).

  7. STs, notes Census 2011, account for 8.63 per cent (over 100 million people) of India’s population. Mizoram (94.43 per cent) has the highest percentage of an ST population among all states, followed by Lakshadweep (94.8 per cent), Nagaland (86.48 per cent), Meghalaya (86.15 per cent) and Arunachal Pradesh (68.79 per cent).

  8. Citing Census 2011, the report observes that Madhya Pradesh had the largest ST population (about 15.3 million people), followed by Maharashtra (over 10 million people) and Odisha (over 9.5 million people).

  9. The report cites data from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to note that Odisha in 2017 had the highest number of tribes listed as STs (62), followed by Karnataka (50) and Maharashtra (47).

  10. Census 2011 states that 8.58 per cent of India’s population (103 million people) are senior citizens.

  11. Kerala had the highest proportion of senior citizens at 12.55 per cent, followed by Goa at 11.21 per cent and Tamil Nadu at 10.41 per cent. States with the lowest proportion of senior citizens were Dadra and Nagar Haveli (4.04 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (4.6 per cent), Daman and Diu (4.67 per cent) and Meghalaya (4.68 per cent).

  12. Data of the National Crime Record Bureau shows there were 21,410 incidents of violence against senior citizens across India in 2016, with 22,040 victims.

  13. There were 487,803 transgender persons across India. Uttar Pradesh had the highest population of transgender persons among all states at 137,465 people; followed by 43,769 people in AP; 40,891 in Maharashtra and 40,827 in Bihar.

  14. Census 2011 states that there are over 26.8 million persons with disabilities in India – over 14.9 million males and 11.8 million females. Of these, over 18.6 million are in rural areas and 8.1 million in urban areas. India has over 2.1 million persons with multiple disabilities – over 1.1 million males and 953,986 females. Of these, 863,221 persons are in rural areas and 299,491 in urban areas.


    Focus and Factoids by Surbhi Bharadwaj.


    PARI Library's health archive project is part of an initiative supported by the Azim Premji University to develop a free-access repository of health-related reports relevant to rural India.

AUTHOR

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

COPYRIGHT

Government of India, New Delhi

PUBLICATION DATE

Sep, 2018

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